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Colorado

This is what we do by using weed killer and the like. The only weeds that come up are the plants that survived the weed killer. Pulling weeds probably has the same effect, the weeds that break off instead of being pulled out roots and all survive and that genetic feature becomes stronger. Something similar happened near my home town there were rattle snakes that you couldn't get to rattle. Genetically the quieter they were the better their chance not to get killed. Of course word got around to kill the ones that didn't rattle and not to kill the ones that did but that will be a much slower selection process.

8/20/2024 11:30:55 AM

valtierra/spain

This is very interesting, it's to think about and a lot.

8/20/2024 12:23:16 PM

Norfolk, UK

Some do, some don’t. I remember lettuce breeder Frank Morton talking about Hell’s half acre. A plot where for 3 years they a created a disease nursary and tried to make everything sick - specially for crop seed selection https://www.wildgardenseed.com/articles/how-i-became-a-plant-breeder

8/20/2024 4:38:20 PM

Grittyville, WA

We need more like him... he is the reason lettuce is one of the things I can grow! Pretty sure the rest of the industry either copied him or borrowed genes from him. There's a pretty good number of strong lettuce varieties out there still, which is great. As for my recent cole crops attenpt, some could use that exact sort of improvement.

[Last edit: 08/20/24 6:49:53 PM]

8/20/2024 6:49:39 PM

Grittyville, WA

Great article, thanks. Very relevant because I have some interesting romaine hybrids this year that I have yet to decide what to do with.

Funny, it all started because of that one odd red lettuce seedling!

I dont know of lettuce is polyploid or what, but it's weird to think that lettuce might be just as diverse as corn.

Thanks, again!

[Last edit: 08/20/24 7:22:22 PM]

8/20/2024 7:20:40 PM

Norfolk, UK

His other articles you might find interesting too, on breeding — https://www.wildgardenseed.com/articles/on-lettuce-breeding. The best book I found on the subject is this one, if you haven’t already read: Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmers Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving, 2nd Edition https://amzn.eu/d/bCUonzF

8/21/2024 12:44:51 AM